A new simulation of the birth of the Moon hypothesizes that it might have been created not in a few months or years but in just a few hours.
Until recently, the theory behind the birth of the Moon was this: Billions of years ago, a Mars-sized space object (nicknamed Theia) crashed into the forming Earth and sent pieces into space which eventually merged to become our natural satellite, the Moon. But this theory contained two problems: why did the Moon have an isotopic signature (a chemical clue indicating how and where an object formed) so close to Earth and how did it reach this orbit so close? from U.S ?
This theory is challenged by recent research by Jacob Kegerreis, published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. Indeed, a new simulation suggests that the moon might have formed immediately following impact, in just a few hours.
The researchers used extra computing power that helped create a simulation that was much closer to reality and proved that low-resolution simulations can miss important aspects of these types of collisions. He explains in a communique from NASA : “This opens up a whole new range of possible starting points for the moon’s evolution. We embarked on this project not knowing exactly what the results of these high-resolution simulations would be. So, in addition to the big reveal that standard resolutions can give you misleading answers, it was very exciting that the new results might include an orbiting satellite resembling a moon.“
